Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban Wednesday when the International Tennis Federation’s tribunal panel ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub.
The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2½-month ban on Wednesday, convinced the independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine with the kiss with the woman he had just met.
The tribunal panel of three lawyers said Gasquet consumed no more than “a grain of salt” of the drug, and a long ban would be an injustice in a case that was “unusual to the point of being probably unique.”
After deciding to withdraw from the tournament he went to a nightclub in Miami with friends to see a French DJ perform at a dance music festival, which the tribunal noted was “notoriously associated with use of illegal recreational drugs including cocaine.”
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Some people are saying now that the current state of our economy is helping the nightlife industry.
The one good thing about bars and nightclubs is that people always need a release. And essentially, going out for a couple of drinks is a relatively inexpensive way to forget about your life for a couple of hours—depending on how many drinks.
Does that have anything to do with the size of one’s pocketbook?
I think what has happened is that people save up the big blow-out days for the weekend. So instead of going out every day of the week, and especially in the summertime, the early days of the week are very popular … people are blowing it out on Friday and Saturday, and in the city on Thursday. The concept of bottle service has taken a bit of a beating.
You once said that you hated the direction bottle service was taking the club industry.
Yes, and so for me, Avenue is a step back to a time in the nightclub industry—nightlife industry, lets not say nightclub—that I loved and which is kind of representative here. It’s a step back to the lounge times.
I’m not sure if many people know that Avenue is a restaurant.
I think the term we’ve been using is gastrolounge. We have a full menu, and it’s kind of smaller portions. I’m very pleased that we were able to step back into that kind of time where it was not specifically about how much you could spend in a place and that gets you entry … but more about what you brought to the overall vibe of the room. You know you don’t have to be a black-card-toting person to really create or help a room—most of the time those people don’t anyways. It’s good to have a place for people who are just artists and may be struggling and just really cool people. And so it’s easier when you’re not as focused on generating bottle service to have that type of mélange.
But this is going to be quite a bottle service-type place, no?
Well, you know one of my specialties, as I’ve said before, is I kind of adjust as the business adjusts, to perfect what is necessary. I am very good at generating table and bottle sales; I don’t mind that it’s not the main purpose of this place. And there are still plenty of people who are appropriate for a room like this, which is very, very difficult. The door policy’s very difficult.
What do you mean by “difficult”?
It means that it’s very difficult to get in. This is not an “I’m buying two bottles, let me get in” kind of place. This is a place where if you can get in then maybe you can get a table. But it’s not about how much you’re going to spend first; it’s about how much we want you in the place. At Marquee we kept the door policy very rigid as well … it still is … I mean, I’m still there two days a week, as well as here. But a lot of places had a door policy that was solely, you buy two bottles, then you’re in. I would never be affiliated with that … that’s not what I would want to have anything to do with.
You’ve become known as having impeccable taste. Is this sort of costuming for your job, or is your sense of fashion apparent all of the time?
There are certain sides. There are certain things that I think a man should do as far as personal style, and so I live by those rules that I have set for myself. There’s a consistency to the different genres. For instance, I’ll never leave the house without a pocket square if I’m wearing a sport coat. I like very high collars on my shirts, so I have them all made. I like French cuffs, and I like monograms. Every shirt I own has a monogram, and every shirt has French cuffs.
What are some brands that you like? Where do you shop?
I like YSL suits, and Paul Smith all of the sudden is a newfound love of mine, which I’ve been buying up like crazy. I love Brioni sport coats.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
Brazilian authorities detained the wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti and formally accused her on Sunday of killing him at an upmarket seaside tourist resort in Brazil.
Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation and presented a formal accusation against her. Prosecutors will later decide whether she will be charged.
Rodrigues, who denies any involvement in her husband’s death, was the first to find the slain boxer’s body early on Saturday inside the vacation apartment they were renting at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil, police said.
The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police.
She told The Associated Press that the Canadian also sustained a head injury.
Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours inside the residence without noticing that Gatti was already dead.
Rodrigues told police she had a fight with Gatti after dinner on Friday night and he pushed her to the ground during the altercation, causing her to sustain minor injuries to her elbow and chin.
She told authorities Gatti was drunk and that a third party likely committed the crime after he went to the apartment by himself.
Witnesses had reported to police that the couple fought and that Gatti was drunk.
Authorities were told the couple was extremely jealous of each other and that Gatti constantly complained about her clothing when she travelled to Brazil, Saraiva said.
Acelino “Popo” Freitas, a four-time world champion Brazilian boxer, told Globo TV’s website on Saturday that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife and that he “knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate”.
They had planned to spend a month in Brazil on holiday.
The couple’s one-year-old son, who was unhurt, was handed to Rodrigues’ sister, Saraiva said.
The 37-year-old Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward made him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, retired in 2007 with a career record of 40-9 and 31 knockouts.
Known for his straightforward punching and granite-like chin, Gatti captured the super featherweight title in 1995, when he defeated Tracy Harris Patterson in Atlantic City. He won the junior welterweight title in 2004.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
The wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti was detained as a suspect by Brazilian authorities Sunday following his death at a posh seaside resort.
Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation. Gatti’s body was found early Saturday in a hotel room at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil.
The former junior welterweight champion was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police. She told The Associated Press that the Canadian also had a head injury.
The investigation was not complete, but Saraiva said authorities were preparing to present a formal accusation against Rodrigues, who denied being involved in her husband’s death.
Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that Gatti was already dead.
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
By Mark Vester
Authorities in Brazil have revealed to reporters that Arturo Gatti’s wife, Amanda Rodrigues, is one of their main suspects in the investigation of Gatti’s death. Early on Saturday morning, Gatti was found dead by wife in their rented condo at the seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas in Brazil. Brazilian police officials have said that inconsistencies in her testimony have given them grounds for suspicion. The couple was on a month’s vacation in the country.
Gatti was found with marks on his neck and some damage to the back of his head, the result of a hit from an unknown object they believe. Gatti’s wife told authorities that she and her husband were involved in a very heated verbal dispute on Friday night in a Brazilian bar. She alleges that Gatti was drunk when they came home.
The story on how and where Gatti’s body was discovered in the condo continues to change. The wife claims she went to sleep and woke up at 6am to take care of their one-year-old child. She thought Gatti was sleeping called for him and when she tried to wake him around 9am, she noticed he was dead. Police authorities say that he could have been dead for up to eight hours prior to their arrival to the scene of the crime. Police found a blood stained purse strap that one detective believes may have been used to strangle the fighter.
Police are still investigating and the wife is innocent until proven guilty.
Former champion Acelino Freitas was very close friends with Gatti, and told Brazilian reporters that he “knew Gatti and his wife were having some sort of problem and were about to separate.”
Michael Porfirio Mason
AKA The Peoples Champ
AKA GFK, Jr.
AKA The Sly, Slick and the Wicked
AKA The Voodoo Child
The Guide to Getting More out of Life
http://www.thegmanifesto.com
